Slightly off topic, but very relevant considering the forum, what do you do with the old coolant?
Flaps takes oil, but I don't think they would appreciate finding jugs of coolant in their returns.
I've been taking mine to the toxic waste collection site run by the county.
My AutoZone takes coolant. I think my Advance does too.
Agreed with Curtis. I had a '99 Olds Intrigue and I swapped to green stuff around 60k miles. Multiple long runs on water, then drain and refill, maybe five times to get all of the Dex out of it. Was starting to see curdling in the overflow bottle high on the sides and the vent tube that runs from the bottle's cap. I had never touched the system besides checking the level (which never changed) so it wasn't like I added something to the existing Dex which started the change. It "just happens".
I don't see any benefit to the consumer to keep Dex in a cooling system that still has it.
The Impala SS I sold to EastsideTim went through multiple heater cores and water pumps under warranty. In 36k, I think it had three cores and two water pumps. The sandy sludge eats the packing around the bearings and they leak (which is also why the optispark gets a bad rep). Every winter I would flush the heater core and get orange jello.
After the warranty expired I flushed and filled with green, and sold it with 146k and never had a single issue after that. I did replace the pump at around 120k, mostly because I was in there to replace the optispark and saw no reason to put a 15-year-old water pump back on.
Dexcool is supposed to be changed every 5 years, 2 years for the green stuff. Of course nobody ever does....
What's our take on "blends with everything universal coolant"?
In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :
I'm not sure about the blends with everything. It was explained to me as basically a coolant that uses the least amount of potential incompatibilities. Kind of like if you have a lot of allergies, it's always safe to just drink water.
I think it's just coolant with the least amount of "stuff" in it so it can't negatively interact with other compounds in whatever coolant is in there already.
... also, if its anthing like universal ATF, it's not really universal. It just works with a bunch, but not all.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
After the warranty expired I flushed and filled with green, and sold it with 146k and never had a single issue after that.
I guess not! 
(I know what you meant...)
The universal coolants are fine to use on their own if they're of a generally appropriate type for the system. But in my experience, you NEVER mix different coolants unless you can confirm they're either the same formula or very similar and compatible. If you don't know what's in a system, flush it thoroughly before adding anything to it. Some of the univeral stuff is basically Dexcool without 2-EHA in it (which is what causes most of the gasket compatibility problems).
For longer coolant life, anything with old school green IAT coolant can safely be flushed and changed to a G-05 type. There aren't any known system incompatibilities between them.
In reply to rslifkin :
Finally, language I understand. YAY! So yeah, don't mix coolants. Color means nothing. Either learn what type of formulation you have or flush and start over. The organic and inorganic inhibitors used in a lot of coolants can cause issues. The 2-ethylhexanoic acid is one of those inhibitors that don't play nicely with anyone which is why DC is so sensitive to outsiders.
Just like oil, coolants are a world of their own and something I cannot forget fast enough.
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